The Children of Jacob, the Seed of Abraham, had descended into a dark time when Amos quoted the people as they said, “The day of the Lord.” I will offer three things that put them into darkness: 1. They wanted a king or political ruler to be their leader. 2. Idols and other religions that led them away from the Lord. 3. Assyria.
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. (KJV) To set this in proper context, start reading at 2:4 and go to 5:17. This was not just to Israel/Mt. Samaria, but also to Judah/Mt. Zion; the Father was not happy with the people. Yes, some were trying to follow God and there had been some good kings in Judah; but as you read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles with Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, and Nahum things were not right. (Jonah is about him and Nineveh.)
Because of the timestamps (kings), I put Amos leading the parade of this impressive troop of prophets who spoke to Judah and Israel (all of Jacob’s children). Assyria was the storm cloud over the Fertile Cresent, and all would suffer in its shade. In Amos’ day the North was still several kings away from total deportation; that actually happened in two separate storms. Judah was not spared the wrath of Assyria’s hail of arrows, and all of its fortified cities would fall and a deportation of Judah also took place. (Only Jerusalem was spared.)
I mention these to show that prophecy can have multiple levels in its massa. Amos was speaking to several events, but I have read commentaries that make it sound like the fall of Jerusalem was the ‘day’.
The transliteration “the day of the Lord” appears in Amos, Isaiah, Obadiah, and Joel. “The day” is used more often and you have to think it is the same ‘day’. This ‘day’ even appears in Revelation. There are many references to “the day” and most are negative and speak of judgment. I will point to Isaiah 61:2b the “day of vengeance of our God” as being a good reference point. In doing that I have to again point out that the vengeance is overshadowed by the “year of the Lord’s favor”. BOTH will happen.
Again, it needs to pointed out that another parade of prophets used the same message as Babylon overpowered the Levant and its reign rained misery on many, especially Judah. The multiple judgments of Babylon are mentioned in Isaiah 46 and 47, and the rise of Cyrus, the Persian, is foretold in Isaiah 44 and 45.
Given that Amos was at the head of the parade, who was he writing to in 5:18 and what were they expecting?
- Israel – a triumph over Judah and the collapse of Assyria
- Judah – victory over Israel and the enemies in the first part of Amos
- The Ones Who Hoped, that a Messianic figure would arise as in Psalm 110, unite the two kingdoms and rule the nations.
Hezekiah did bring some back to the Lord by opening up a Passover celebration to all of Jacob. Unfortunately, his son Manasseh, the evil, plunged Judah back into idolatry, Assyria, and laid the ground work for the fall of Jerusalem. Josiah did bring the Light back, but his kids doused that wick and sealed ‘the day of the Lord’ for the city.
Amos 5:18 Hebrew Text Analysis
Long for Hebrew Concordance: ham·miṯ·’aw·wîm — 2 Occurrences ‘Long for’ in Nu 11:34 is lust for other foods than the manna from the Lord.
